Consortium of Clans
by UltimateUnknown
Summary: The Uzumaki and Hyuga clans have been at war for generations, and the conflict has finally started to take its toll on both sides. To unite the two clans the leaders decide to marry their children, Naruto and Hinata. Together the two are then tasked to build a new Konoha as Naruto takes on the mantle of the hokage, all the while developing their newfound relationship.
1. The S Ranked Mission

**The S Ranked Mission**

Glad to have you here! You've already read the synopsis, so I'm not going to say much other than the fact that this story is AU and therefore it does not follow canon. The ninja world in this story has its own unique history and background. The characters though will retain their personalities for the most part. I hope you'll like this new take to the Naruto and Hinata story :)

* * *

><p>Every person in the world has physical energy, which is produced within one's body. They use it to do everyday tasks. Tasks that are vital for life to exist. However there is a subset of people in the world who are naturally born with the ability to generate such large amounts of physical energy that they can release that energy from their body and wield it in the form of various techniques, or jutsus. These people are called ninja.<p>

Naruto Uzumaki, 19 years of age was one such ninja, hailing from the renowned village of Uzushiogakure. He was no ordinary ninja however. Naruto was the heir to the Uzumaki clan, one of the strongest clans in the entire ninja world, his father being its current leader. Furthermore, his mother was a member of the Namikaze clan, another one of Uzushiogakure's most prominent clans. In other words Naruto's lineage made him nothing short of royalty at the village, and he had the innate ability to back it all up as well.

It was evening right now. The sun had gone down a while ago and darkness was about to fully set in. Naruto just returned back from a mission and entered through the gates of Uzushiogakure. He wasn't gone for long however, only for a day in fact.

"Hey guys, I'm back." He walked over to the two ninja guards stationed at the doors. "Could you write me in?"

"Naruto, you've returned already?" One of the guards asked in surprise. "Sorry to have called you back from your mission so abruptly. I know how much you dislike leaving missions incomplete, but it was your father's order. He said he needed you back urgently for something extremely important."

"Don't worry about it. I got the mission done." Naruto shrugged the query off nonchalantly. "In any case, I should get going. Don't want to keep dad waiting if it's so urgent that he had to call me back to the village in such short notice."

Both guards looked at each other in awe for a few seconds as the blonde ninja jumped away to the rooftops.

"Did he seriously solo an A-ranked mission in just a day? That mission would have taken any other full team a week." One of the guards said to the other.

"It's almost unbelievable to see the little prankster Naruto to have grown so much. Now he is arguably one of the strongest shinobi in the village. Heck he might even be on par with his father." The second guard replied.

"I don't know about that." His partner showed a bit of apprehension. "While there is no doubt Naruto has potential, his father is the legendary "Yellow Flash" of Uzushiogakure, one of the Kages no less."

"Well I'd still put my money on Naruto to eventually edge out his father though. But I suppose we'll have to see how that turns out over time."

As the two guards discussed Naruto's potential future, the blonde ninja jumped from rooftop to rooftop at incredible speed until within a minute he reached his destination. The Uzumaki clan house was massive, necessarily so due to it needing to house the largest clan in the village. It had a traditional architecture with a large courtyard at the front and almost maze-like hallways within the complex, leading to a plethora of rooms for the inhabitants.

Naruto however knew his destination – a room very close to the entrance to the clan house, in other words his father's office. The lights were on indicating that his father was anticipating him. Naruto wasted no time and jumped in through the open window.

The room itself was medium sized with nothing too extravagant. It mostly consisted of shelves stacked with books and scrolls as well as a rather large work table with a comfortable looking chair to go with it. Naruto's father, Minato was currently standing behind the table talking with his wife Kushina until Naruto came in, at which point they both turned their attention towards their son.

"Would it really hurt you to use the door for once?" Minato asked with a sigh. No matter how much he tried, he just couldn't seem to get his son to follow the conventional means of doing even the most menial tasks. "I know I called you back pretty abruptly, but I take it you still finished the mission?"

"Yup! You know me. These A-ranked missions are a piece of cake." Naruto replied with a large grin across his face. "Anyway, what's up with me needing to be here so suddenly? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah…about that. I actually called you back to assign you your very first S-ranked mission. This is absolutely urgent."

"ABOUT FRIKIN' TIME!" Naruto's face lit up in excitement. He had never partaken in an S-ranked mission before. More specifically his father did not let him. These missions were incredibly dangerous, not only to the ninja undertaking them, but also to the villages that assigned them due to the highly sensitive tasks that needed to be carried out, which could easily escalate into an all-out conflict between the various parties involved. As such these missions were only restricted to the most elite of ninja, normally highly skilled Jounin or Kage level shinobi. To be assigned an S-ranked mission meant that Naruto was finally being acknowledged by his father to be one of the very best ninjas under his command, close to himself in skill level.

"Darn it Minato. My son hasn't even returned back home for two minutes and you're already talking about the next assignment." Kushina gave her husband a somewhat annoyed look before turning to Naruto with a happier expression. "Naruto I've prepared something special for you tonight."

"How could I forget about that?" Minato quickly followed in Kushina's footsteps.

The two of them grabbed Naruto's hands from both sides and made him sit in the clan leader's chair. Peculiarly, there was a rather large bowl on the table with a lid on top.

"For all your hard work you deserve a treat." Kushina said to her son while gently stroking his spiky blonde hair. "I made it myself."

"That's right Naruto. Just forget about work and enjoy what is in that bowl for now. Your mother poured her heart into it. Trust me, I was there to watch." Minato reassured while patting his head as well.

As he lifted the lid off the bowl, Naruto literally started drooling from the mouth at the sight and smell of the ramen that was in front of him. His hands moved out of reflex as he picked up the chopsticks next to the bowl to dig in. But right at that moment his ninja senses started tingling. Something was very odd.

Naruto gave both his parents a suspicious look. "Mom, did you say you made this for me?"

"Of course I did." Kushina replied with the biggest smile she could conjure. "I poured my heart into it as well. Consider it a gift from mother to son."

His mother's over-enthusiasm only served to scare Naruto even more as he backed off slightly. There was something very odd going on indeed.

"That's weird because you're always the one telling me how ramen is bad for my health and I should stop eating it so much. How come you decided to make me ramen all of a sudden?"

Naruto's question caused both Minato and Kushina to flinch as if they were caught off guard.

"D-Don't sweat the details and just indulge yourself already." Minato said to him with a look of nervousness clearly visible on his face.

Naruto caught on to this however. "There is seriously something suspicious going on here. From previous experiences, it's never a good sign when the two of you sit me down in the clan leader's chair, let alone serve ramen on top. I feel like I'm being groomed for something."

"JUST EAT YOUR RAMEN ALREADY!" Kushina couldn't take the inquisition any longer and grabbed the chopsticks off of Naruto's hand, shoving some noodles into his mouth.

And it was at this point that Naruto's will was broken. One quick taste of ramen shattered all rhyme and reason as he gobbled up the entire bowl within just a minute. Normally one bowl would not be able to satiate his appetite, however it was a truly rare occasion that his mother made ramen for him, the one dish she actively went out of her way to stop Naruto from over-eating. Therefore he savoured the amazing taste of his mom's homemade ramen.

"Thanks for the food." He showed his gratitude by rubbing his belly. "Nothing like mom's cooking right after a mission."

"I'm glad you liked it Naruto." She replied.

"You guys wanna tell me why you called me here?" Naruto eyed both of his parents with a look of anticipation. "I can tell you've got something on your minds."

In return Minato and Kushina shared a knowing glance followed by a nod.

"Son, have you thought about marriage…"

"Alright I'm off." Before Minato could even finish his sentence Naruto was already on his way out.

"NO WAIT!" Both his parents shouted in unison and grabbed his hands again, dragging him back to the seat against his will. "Listen to what we have to say first."

"I don't want to talk about marriage…PERIOD! I'm only 19 years old. Now's not the time for me to think about that stuff."

Minato sighed, already knowing that this would happen when he brought up the topic. "Look Naruto, I know marriage might not be the first thing in your mind right now, but you really need to understand your position. You are unlike any other average kid in the village. You are the heir to the Uzumaki clan; the strongest and most influential clan in Uzushiogakure. As such it is important we do our best to ensure that there will be future successors to this clan as soon as possible. Not to mention, depending on whom you end up marrying, it could have a great impact on not only our clan but the village itself. Do you see now why we're so adamant about the matter?"

Naruto childishly shrugged off his father's words. He just didn't care.

"Come on Naruto, don't be like that. Pay attention to your father." It was now Kushina's turn to do the persuading. "Forget about the clan for a second. Think about us, your parents. We want to see our grandchildren too. More importantly, it is our dream to see our son finally start his own family. You're already a splendid ninja. All you need now is a suitable wife."

"NO! I SAID DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT THAT STUFF!" Naruto shut both of his ears off with his hands like a kid, pretending he couldn't hear anything.

Both of his parents sighed again. This wasn't going anywhere. They knew how stubborn their son could be when he set his mind to something.

Thus Minato decided to change the topic. "Alright then, let me ask you a different question. What do you think about the Hyuga?"

The name stirred a deep emotion within Naruto and he looked up at his father with disdain, his expression becoming deadly serious. There was of course a reason for this.

The Hyuga were a ninja clan from the village of Kirigakure. Similar to how the Uzumaki were the most powerful clan in Uzushiogakure, the Hyuga held an analogous position in their home village. Furthermore, just as Minato, the head of the Uzumaki clan was the leader of Uzushiogakure, the head of the Hyuga clan held the position of Mizukage in Kirigakure. Thus the two clans were identical in many ways in the positions they held at their respective villages.

More importantly, the Uzumaki and Hyuga clans harboured intense hatred towards each other since olden times. The two clans fought countless battles and given their influential positions, they dragged the rest of their respective villages into the conflict. The rivalry has been running for so many generations that neither clan could exactly pinpoint anymore what started it all, even though there were many speculations. At this point the conflict was simply a cycle of revenge, as the losses they suffered at each other's hands drove them to keep on fighting.

However, they were now at an impasse. Many generations of fighting had finally taken the toll on both clans and their villages, resulting in the greatest loss either party had suffered in their shared history. This led both sides to come to the stark realisation that something drastic needed to be done to put an end to this struggle. Something definitely needed to change.

Minato was determined to make this change happen and he understood that his son was the key in bringing about such a revolution. Thus he asked of Naruto's viewpoint on the Hyuga.

"I HATE the Hyuga!" That was Naruto's simple reply. "They are a clan who seek to destroy us. They have taken so much away from us. And now I'm finally prepared to stand up to them…to make them pay. Just give me the chance and I will definitely change our clan's future for the better."

Hearing his son's words Minato had a serious look of contemplation on his face. "Change our clan's future for the better…I also think you can do that Naruto. In fact you may be the only person capable of doing so."

Naruto was utterly surprised by what his father was saying. He expected to hear his usual response telling him how he was not ready yet or he needed to work on becoming a better leader first. Therefore, Minato's sudden change in tone came as a complete shock to Naruto.

"Does that mean I get to finally face the Hyuga?" Naruto asked, knowing that the heirs to the Uzumaki clan that came before him have led the charge against the Hyuga clan. It was finally time for him to stand face to face against whoever the future of the Hyuga clan rested with. Naruto was ready to prove himself as a worthy successor to his father.

"Indeed, I do think it is about time you took the helm to end this conflict once and for all. If anyone can, it is you son." Minato replied, assuming a stoic expression.

"Oh wow, this is it. When do I get to fight? What's the plan? Do we even have a plan yet? Tell me already. I bet this is the S-class mission you were going to assign me." Naruto was giddy with excitement. He could only imagine the possibilities.

"We do have a plan Naruto to end our rivalry with the Hyuga, but I don't think it is what you are expecting it to be." Kushina decided to chime in.

Her response only left Naruto confused. "What do you mean? Do I not face them in battle like our ancestors have done for generations?"

Both Minato and Kushina looked at each other, taking in a deep breath.

"We wish to end the conflict between our clans by having you, the son of the Uzumaki clan leader, marry Hinata Hyuga, the daughter of the Hyuga clan header." Kushina told Naruto in the calmest possible tone, even though the message she relayed was ground breaking to say the least.

"The marriage meeting is going to take place tonight in just a few hours and I'm classifying this as your very first S-class mission. Your attendance is compulsory. Non-attendance will be considered an act of high treason." Minato added, this time taking on the demeanour of a battle-hardened Kage.

Hearing his parents' words Naruto's jaws dropped. The only thought in his mind was: _"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"_

Thus the consortium of clans was about to begin.

* * *

><p>I hope the first chapter was promising. As you can see I've changed quite a few things around, from what makes a person a ninja to certain clan affiliations. My hope is that all of these will make the story fresh and interesting.<p>

I would love to hear your thoughts on this first chapter. It is always exciting as a writer to find out the readers' reaction to a new story.

I hope you'll join me next time as well :)


	2. The Nameless Princess

**The Nameless Princess**

Hi everyone and great to have you back. I was really glad to see the warm reception to the first chapter. So thank you for that and I present to you all the next chapter...

* * *

><p>After the initial shock had worn off, Naruto was in disbelief of what his parents were proposing. "Are you SERIOUS?! Of all the people you could think of, you want me to marry the daughter of the Hyuga clan leader? Have you forgotten that the Hyuga clan have been our sworn enemies for GENERATIONS?"<p>

"No, we haven't forgotten and that is precisely the reason why we hope for this union to go through." Minato answered back calmly. "I know it may be difficult to accept but this entire war between our clans has been nothing but detrimental to both sides. We have been fighting for so long that at this point it has become a cycle of revenge, and this cycle must be broken now before there is no turning back. I'm sure you are aware that the Uzumaki clan and Uzushiogakure by large are the weakest now than it has been before. This is a direct consequence of the conflicts with Hyuga clan and Kirigakure. We simply cannot afford to become any weaker, or else this village's existence will be at stake."

Naruto could not deny his father's points. He himself had known about those issues but never really stopped to consider their long term effects. "So you think this marriage will suddenly fix all these problems? Everyone in our clan and the village will just accept the Hyuga as allies after all that has happened between us?"

"No, we do not expect everyone to outright accept such an alliance. Bad blood does not fade away overnight. However it will be a start and in the end it is up to the clan leader to initiate the change so that over time the rest of the clan can come to accept it. If we aren't willing to even try to rectify the issues as the leaders of this clan, then there is no hope of ever achieving peace."

Again, Minato spoke rationally but there was something else altogether that was stopping Naruto from accepting the proposal. "I don't like the idea of this marriage. It has political written all over it and the fact that it is the Hyuga we're dealing with just makes it that much worse. You are basically telling me to spend the rest of my life with one of our sworn enemies. I don't see how I could ever live with even a shard of happiness with one of them. It feels like the two of you don't even care about my happiness whatsoever."

"Naruto, as your parents we understand better than anyone that this is hard for you to accept." Kushina added. "But please understand that being a leader entails looking after the greater good of your subordinates, even if that means making sacrifices on your end. There is nothing else that forms alliances between clans like marriages between heirs or leaders. It is something very common. I mean just look at your father and me for example. Our marriage brought about the great alliance between the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans."

"But you two were already acquainted beforehand and it's not like your clans hated each other. The Hyuga are complete strangers to me and I've never even met them before. The idea of this union makes me sick. I can't go through with this. No way. Just no way."

"Naruto, ever since you were a child you've always been saying that it is your dream to one day bring peace and justice to this world. Is that not true?" Minato asked calmly.

"Of course that is true. It has and still is one of my main goals. I train and fight so that I can one day become a hero of justice."

Minato smiled at how seriously Naruto replied. "Although somewhat childish, I always admired that drive of yours. I can tell you are sincere about it at least. But it is time for you to learn some diplomacy and understand that peace cannot simply be achieved with your bare fists. In fact that course of action may lead you in the complete opposite direction. Sometimes you have to do everything in your power to end the fighting, even if it means accepting something you hate vehemently."

Despite knowing that his father spoke from experience and understanding the wisdom behind his words, it was still difficult to accept the current proposition. His mind was in a state of turmoil.

"Also Naruto, I think you misunderstood my previous order." Minato clarified. "I only asked you to attend this marriage meeting. I never mentioned anything about you having to accept the marriage proposal. You just need to attend the event, meet the prospective bride and if after that you still feel so opposed to this union then you don't have to go through with it. As your parents we have no intentions of making you suffer for the rest of your life through a bad marriage, even if it is for the betterment of our clan. That being said, under no circumstances are you to reject the marriage proposal tonight in front of the Hyuga. The Hyuga are the ones who initiated the proposal in the first place and there will be a lot of delegates from various clans attending the event, so a rejection at this stage may lead to a disaster. Are we clear on this?"

"I'm still not attending." Naruto replied stubbornly.

"WHAT? After everything I just said?" Minato was dumbfounded. "I thought I already told you that this was an order from the Kage, the leader of this village and not just a request from your father. If you disobey there will be consequences."

"That's perfect." A large mischievous grin appeared on Naruto's face in response as he knew his father all too well. "If I don't obey your order then you'll punish me. But as I am right now, you are the only ninja in this village who even has a ghost of a chance of capturing me. So it would mean that I finally get my chance to fight you one on one and you can no longer make excuses about being too busy with work to spar with me. It's a win-win situation for me. Just admit it old man, if we fought I'd lay you out flat and show the world that there is finally someone who has overtaken the legendary "Yellow Flash" of Uzushiogakure. In doing so, I'd set myself up in becoming both the leader of this clan and the entire village. No more treating me like a child now. MUHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I'll pay you good money to attend…" Minato now sounded desperate.

"Don't try to bribe me."

"But you're my son."

"THAT MAKES IT EVEN WORSE!"

Minato turned towards his wife with a worried look and changed his tone to a completely defeated one. "Kushina, your son is threatening me using underhanded tactics. Even though I work day in and day out to put food on the table for all of us, he won't even listen to a simple request of mine."

"HEY! Don't try to play the guilt card on me." Naruto retaliated. "And you're the one using underhanded tactics, trying to use your power as Kage to force me to attend some stupid marriage meeting that I wasn't even consulted about before it was finalized."

Hearing Naruto's words Kushina dropped on to her knees, her eyes getting watery in the process. "My son…he has become a delinquent. I went through so much pain to give birth to him, stayed up countless nights to tend to him when he was just a child. Even though I raised him with all the love and care I could ever hope to give to anyone, he doesn't reciprocate those feelings of mine. What did I do to deserve this? What did I do wrong as a mother?"

Thus Kushina burst out crying.

"You've gone and done it now Naruto. As difficult of a feat it is, you've just made your mother cry. I hope you're proud of yourself."

"Eh?" Naruto was completely caught off guard by the sudden change in atmosphere. "Wait…mom, why are you crying? Please don't do that. Now you're just making me feel bad."

"But…but…you won't listen to me anymore. I've failed as your mother haven't I? That must be it. That has to be it." She said within her tears.

"No, that's not it at all. You're the best mom I could ever ask for, really. So please don't cry. I'm sorry if I acted insolently." Naruto apologised sincerely, as he cared deeply for his mother, who had raised him with all the love and care in the world that he could ever ask for. The two of them had a very deep bond which could never be replaced.

"Then does that mean you'll attend the meeting?" Kushina asked while wiping away her tears.

"Uhh…" Naruto flinched from the question, but he understood there was no turning back now despite how reluctant he was. "Fine…I'll go."

As soon as he accepted Kushina and Minato sprung up from their dejected demeanours and shared a magnificent high five like two kids that managed to score a bag of candy from someone.

"Great job Kushina." Minato said to his wife with a nod of approval. "I knew you could do it. Naruto's such a momma's boy. It works every time."

Kushina brought out a small little bottle of liquid and handed it to her husband. "As always, you're a genius Minato. There's a reason why you're a Kage after all. I gotta say those tears drops are incredibly effective. My eyes are itchy even now."

"I'm sorry about that. Maybe I should have ordered a slightly less concentrated one. I just wanted to make sure it lasted all the way through. Here let me help…" Minato held Kushina's face with both hands and gently flew some air into her eyes. "Is that better?"

"Yeah…that feels really nice." Kushina replied with a blush.

In the meantime Naruto was stunned to silence by the string of events that just took place in front of him. His jaws were wide open, so much so that a fly had enough time to go in and come back out. After some time had passed he finally snapped out of his daze.

"ARE YOU FRIKIN KIDDING ME?!" He yelled in disbelief. "Every time I take you guys seriously you always do this. Well, this is the last time I'm falling for it. I'M GONE!"

As Naruto turned around to storm off the room, both his parents grabbed his hands as firmly as possible.

"Come on man, you already said yes. Don't turn your back on us now." Minato requested as politely as possible, knowing that his son wasn't exactly in the best of moods. "Wasn't it your ninja way to never go back on your word?"

"Your father's right. Leaving all the shenanigans aside, we're truly desperate about this, since it involves the clan and the whole village. SO PLEASE…" Kushina requested will all her heart.

Naruto couldn't help but sigh in response to his parents. "Fine…whatever, I'll go. If the two of you are this serious about it then I simply can't reject in the first place. There was no need for all that craziness."

Both Minato and Kushina let out of breath of relief. They both knew that when all was said and done their son would pull through for them, like always. Their bond as a family was a truly unique one.

"You know Naruto, I don't quite get why you were so against attending the meeting. As I said before, it is just a formality on your part. All you have to do is attend and let the rest of us have our diplomatic talks while you have a little chat with the girl. We can reject their proposal later on once everything has been settled. In fact the Hyuga might be intending to do exactly that, this marriage meeting being their way of trying to get us all to sit down for once to try and sort out our issues. So yeah, I don't really see what the big deal is. Unless of course you already have a girl you love, in which case you feel like you're betraying her or something." Minato said jokingly.

But Naruto visibly flinched at this father's ending statement.

"Wait…did I just hit the nail right in the head?"

Naruto backed up a few steps nervously in response, his answer being clear as day.

"WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?" Kushina was on the case before her son could even reply. "How come you never told me about it either? I thought you shared everything with me. I need to know the details here. This is very important."

"Your mother is right. We need to know about this girl you've fallen in love with. Since you are the heir, the future of our clan is at stake here." Minato added. "So, who is she?"

"I don't know." He whispered back. Naruto was fidgeting around under his parents' intense gazes, almost sweating from the tension.

"What do you mean you don't know? Then tell us what clan she is from." Minato kept up the questioning.

"I don't know." The same reply came from his son again.

"Then at the very least tell us her lineage. If we know who her parents are we can figure out the rest." Minato pressed on.

"I don't know any of that."

"Surely you must know her name, at the absolute least." Kushina tried to take a more sympathetic tone than an inquisitive one.

Naruto gulped hard before finally managing to utter out the name, "Hime."

Both Minato and Kushina gave their son a confused look. They couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

"Hime? As in princess?" Minato asked in response, to which Naruto nodded. "Come on, stop playing round. What's her real name?"

"As I said, I don't know!" This time Naruto gave an irritated reply. "I wish I did but all I know is that I call her hime."

Minato held his son's shoulders sympathetically. "Naruto, I get you're at that age where you want to find your own perfect "princess" and live happily ever after. Trust me, I was there too. But you have to come back down to Earth and settle with what is real. This ideal "princess" you're looking for is not real. It is just a fantasy."

Naruto was confused about what his father was talking about when he felt a shiver run up his spine. Minato on the other hand felt a glare that was trying to pierce through his heart.

"WHAT…WAS…THAT…ALL…ABOUT?" Kushina's red hair was now flailing around in the air freely. "ARE YOU TRYING TO INSINUATE THAT I WAS A COMPROMISE?!"

Both father and son hugged each other and yelled in fear. "HAHIIIII! THE RED HABANERO IS HERE!"

"AM I NOT PRINCESS ENOUGH FOR YOU?!" Kushina asked again, this time a frying pan in hand somehow.

"Oh no no no no no…you've got it all wrong Kushina!" Minato tried to defend himself in front of a monster that appeared ready to tear everything to bits. "Princess? Pfft. Who cares about such a measly thing? You're my queen. The empress. Nothing compares to you."

Since Minato was distracted, this was Naruto's golden opportunity to make a dash for freedom.

"Here, I'll help present you to your highness." Naruto pushed his father straight into his mother's grasp and jumped out of the window. "I'll see you guys later tonight for the meeting."

"DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOO-" Minato cried out, but his scream was quickly stifled abruptly.

Naruto didn't know, neither did he want to know what was happening right now between his parents. He understood very well that some things were better left unknown. Not to mention, he had a lot of preparations to go through for what would be undoubtedly an eventful night.

* * *

><p>Yes, Naruto's family is a bit eccentric (maybe not just "a bit" lol). I'll focus more on them as we go along.<p>

For now I suppose I'll leave you to ponder about who "Hime" is. It'd be nice to see if everyone already guessed who she is. The answer is maybe obvious or not so obvious at the same time. I guess we'll see.

And next time, Hinata and the Hyuga will enter the fray. So until then I'd love to hear what you thought about this chapter and I'll see you all then.


	3. The Childhood Promise

**The Childhood Promise**

This chapter took a bit longer to get out than I initially envisioned. But then again it turned out quite a bit longer than the previous ones. So I hope that makes it worth the wait. I was really glad to see everyone's enthusiasm in wanting to see the meeting between the Hyuga and the Uzumaki, which will begin in this chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>Flashback beginning - 10 years ago<strong>

A nine year old Naruto stood in front of a girl of the same age. They both looked at each other with great intent, their gazes unflinching.

"So Hime, will you go get married with me?" Naruto asked with utmost seriousness, his eyes glimmering with hope. "You're the one…the only one I want to share that experience with."

The girl to whom he directed that question blushed uncontrollably unlike ever before. Naruto's seriousness only made it even more difficult for her to keep facing him. But she strengthened her resolve to overcome her shyness. She knew that this was not a moment for hesitation.

"You're the only one for me too." She replied, trying her absolute best to keep herself from stuttering. This had to be perfect. "Yes…I'll marry you."

A huge smile spread across Naruto's face as he danced around the forest floor.

"She said yes. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed in joy.

"A-Ano…Naruto-kun." Hime broke him out of cloud nine and brought his attention to herself once again. "I said yes, so you must promise me that you won't get married with any other girl but me. Until the time is right, you'll wait for me. And then when we're both ready, we'll find each other once again and fulfil our promise."

Naruto nodded forcefully at her in response. "Of course Hime. I promise that I'll get married with you and only you. No matter where we may be or how long it may take, I'll find you one day and fulfil this promise. I never go back on my word, because that is my ninja way."

Hime also nodded back this time, her anxiety fading away due to Naruto's reassuring words. He had a way of making her feel comfortable unlike anyone else.

"I promise too, and I never go back on my word either, because that is also my ninja way." She replied with a smile that was as bright as the sun itself.

That smile would remain etched in Naruto's mind as one of his most cherished memories. It would serve to remind him of his promise even now, ten years since that fateful day.

**Flashback end – Present day**

"Hime…" The older Naruto whispered her name as he laid down on his bed while remembering the now vague memories of the certain girl he fell in love with such a long time ago, and her smile that stole his heart. Although at the time Naruto's understanding of the concept of marriage was lacking and he couldn't even remember exactly how she looked like anymore given the long time that had passed, his feelings for her were real, carrying through even to this day. Unfortunately there was no way for him to act upon those feelings as he didn't know where she was.

Naruto understood that finding this girl from his childhood would be a near impossible task. She may not remember their promise. She might not even remember him. But he had to meet her at least once more. Naruto just couldn't give up, for he was one who kept his promises, and this was the most important one to him. Yet now suddenly he was in a predicament where he had to attend a marriage meeting with someone else. Just the thought of it felt like he was betraying his own words and thus it caused him great distress.

Nonetheless, the time for the Hyuga's arrival was drawing near and he needed to get prepared. Naruto got up from his bed and looked at the formal set of clothing neatly lying on top of the table with disdain. He disliked having to wear formal clothing, but in all clan related events it was a necessity for every member, especially him, the clan leader's son, to wear them.

He picked up the up the Yukata and let it hang from his hands in front of him. It was bright orange in colour, the type which made you stick out within the crowd. Not to mention, the Yukata was expensive as well since it was custom made just for him from the very best fabrics that could be found in the nation. Certainly his parents did not slouch when it came to getting him the very best attire.

But it looked just so…impractical. He was a ninja after all, those who fought to defend their nation's people from evil and bring about justice. A Yukata was arguably one of the worse pieces of clothing to move about in. Naruto just didn't understand the purpose of this. He guessed it looked nice, but practicality should always come before visual flair. Why then did everyone insist on wearing these things?

At this point Naruto realised that he was just wasting time because of his own reluctance to attend this event. The clothing was just a medium to take out the frustration. It wasn't like he was heading to a battle. Being a ninja meant more than that, involving a large dose of diplomacy and express socialisation, in particular for clans as influential as the Uzumaki.

Thus Naruto started to get changed for the occasion. But his mind drifted back to that girl. He just couldn't stop thinking about her and the events that transpired between them. Those were experiences that he could never forget, because after all she was a notable partner unlike anyone he ever had. There was something about her that made her stand out among the rest. Unfortunately their time together had been short and now Naruto's only wished to be able to meet her once more so that he could reaffirm what exactly made her so special.

"_Hime…I wonder where you are right now."_ One final stray thought crossed Naruto's mind as he finished dressing himself up.

He looked at himself in the mirror to see the mess his clothes were in. The Yukata was crooked and the sash around his midsection was sloppily tightened, causing the rest of the attire to come loose as well. It looked bad and Naruto's lack of enthusiasm wasn't helping in fixing the issue either.

At the very moment there was a knock on the door.

"Naruto, are you in there?" He heard his mother ask from the other side. "I'm coming in."

Before he could give a reply, Kushina was already in his room. It was always like this given her impatient nature.

"I take it you're re-" Kushina stopped mid-sentence after looking at Naruto's abysmal getup. "What have you done? This is an absolute mess. Come on Naruto, you're a young man now. You should at least be able to clothe yourself properly."

"Sorry mom…you know I'm not good with these things. I'll sort it out though."

"You haven't said anything yet." Kushina decided to do a quick spin to show off her attire to her son. "So, what do you think? How do I look?"

At a slightly closer inspection Naruto could see that his mother was wearing her signature red Kimono. It looked gorgeous due to the various black cloud patterns spread across it that accentuated her naturally red hair, which was a trait shared by all Namikaze. However Naruto did not inherit that particular trait from his mother, instead having blonde hair similar to his father, a hair colour all Uzumaki shared respectively.

"Isn't that your favourite one?" Naruto asked with an indifferent expression. "It looks great as always."

"You didn't even look properly!" Kushina pouted at his response. "You have to be more nuanced than that, or you'll have troubles with your future wife."

"Hai…hai…" Naruto responded just as indifferently as before, going back to fixing his own Yukata rather unsuccessfully.

"You worry me sometimes Naruto." Kushina sighed, dropping the small bag she was carrying on the bed. "Here, let me help you with that."

"I can do it myself." Naruto replied, but his mother was already working on fixing his getup. It never failed to amaze him how efficient she was at nearly everything she did. As always it was easier to let her handle it. And that is exactly what Naruto did as he stood in place with his arms outstretched to the sides following his mother's orders as she keenly adjusted everything to centimetre precision.

"Naruto, I'd like to tell you that I'm…sorry." Kushina said to her son in the sincerest manner.

The sudden apology caught him off guard given that it wasn't often that his mother made such a direct confession, especially out of the blue. "Sorry? Why?"

"I thought I should apologise for putting you through this ordeal despite your reluctance. As your parents we feel terrible, but there really are not very many choices from the perspective of a clan leader. This meeting is an opportunity of a lifetime to overhaul the future."

"I really gotta ask, how did this all happen? I mean it's all so sudden." Naruto questioned his mother out of curiosity.

"It wasn't too long ago that your father received a message directly from the Hyuga clan leader himself. It took us all by surprise when we found out that he was proposing a potential marriage between his elder daughter and the son of the Uzumaki clan leader. Although for a long time your father has been thinking of ways in which to mediate matters with the Hyuga, this sudden move took us by complete surprise."

"Wait, if it really is the daughter of the Hyuga clan leader we are talking about here, that's a big deal. Wouldn't she be one of the most important members of the Hyuga clan similar to my status within the Uzumaki? I mean given their position in Kirigakure, she would in essence be like the princess of that village."

"You really are hung up on the whole concept of this princess thing aren't you?" Kushina took a moment to look at her son's face with a smirk before getting back to fixing his clothing. "Anyway, all joking aside, you are correct. She is an integral part of the future of the Hyuga clan, just like you are to the Uzumaki clan."

"Then why would the Hyuga do this?" Naruto was genuinely perplexed. "Doesn't the clan leader care about his daughter? How is he okay with proposing a marriage for her with their worst enemies? What if I turned out to be a major douche?"

"Maybe that's the point of this meeting, to figure out if you are a douche or not." Kushina replied jokingly. "Anyway, from what we were told, it would appear that the Hyuga already know about you. At least that's what the clan leader mentioned. Did you ever meet him or something?"

Naruto was completely taken aback by the assertion. "Of course not. I've never met a Hyuga before. How would they know me?"

"Perhaps they heard about you? You've made quite a name for yourself as the hyperactive knucklehead in Uzushiogakure."

"For some reason I don't think that is a very flattering accolade to be known by." Naruto answered cynically. "So, what next? What did you guys do?"

"Maybe if it was any other Uzumaki, they would have been disgusted at the thought of even sitting in the same room as a Hyuga, let alone have any kind of negotiations. But your father is a very level headed man and as such he understood instantly how important such a meeting could be in finally settling some of the fundamental issues between the two clans, and potentially two nations. More importantly, I believe that Minato always respected the current Hyuga clan leader Hiashi Hyuga ever since they clashed in battle a long time ago when they were about your age. He always told me how Hiashi Hyuga was not only a strong shinobi, but also a rational one at that. Perhaps it was because of that mutual respect that the two of them were able to set aside their differences and call for a truce in hopes of changing the future. Therefore your father consulted with his advisors and after much critical discussion everyone came to an agreement that going forward with this meeting would be in the best interest for both our clan and the village. I guess the hard part then would be getting you to agree."

"By advisor you mean dad consulted you right? You are after all his greatest advisor." Naruto stated in a matter of fact kind of way.

Kushina giggled in response. "Well I suppose you are kind of right about that. Although I don't officially hold such a position, your father does hold my opinion with the highest of regards, probably more than anyone else. Therefore he asked me to help him with this situation as well because he believed that I was the only person who had the ability to get you to oblige."

"So, what was your response?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I agreed to help, but only under the condition that you are required to just attend the meeting and not be forced in any way to actually accept the proposal itself. Although traditionally marriages between important clan members have been very common in bringing about great alliances, I didn't want you to have to accept such a proposition if you were opposed to it. And as your mother I kind of knew you would be against it anyway, just by your nature. Ultimately I wanted you to be able to make your own choice in who you wanted to love, and not be told it by the rest of us. That sounds reasonable, right?"

"I guess I can't argue with that." Naruto answered while smiling inwardly. There was a reason why he was so close with his mother, for she understood him better than anybody else ever did.

"Follow your heart Naruto, but just don't do anything crazy though, because you have a tendency of doing crazy things just like me." Kushina finished fixing Naruto's attire, being happy with the final outcome.

"_Follow my heart…"_ That statement resonated within Naruto's mind as the vague image of "Hime" resurfaced within. He felt he understood now what he needed to do.

"Wow…you look absolutely stunning." Kushina complimented her son with the utmost enthusiasm while she finished brushing his spiky blonde hair. "You have to see for yourself."

As his mother pushed him in front of the large mirror next to the table, Naruto could not deny that his current outfit made him look much more like a potential clan leader than his usual one. Maybe it wasn't so bad to try and look nice sometimes.

"I have something even better that you'll like." Kushina told him excitedly and made her way over to the bed to grab the bag she had brought in with her. From within it she brought out a piece of garment and unfolded it to its full glory. "Your father wanted me to give this to you Naruto. He wants you to wear this today, the clan leader's haori."

Naruto's eyes glimmered in awe looking at the overcoat like jacket with a large spiral design on its back. This was a very special piece of garment, one that was the trademark of the Uzumaki clan leader, worn only during the most important of events. Naruto always loved how epic and important the thing made you look.

"But this is only reserved for the clan leader right? Shouldn't dad be wearing it to the meeting tonight as the representative of the Uzumaki clan?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"While that is indeed true, your father said that you're the main representative of the Uzumaki today and as such you should be the one wearing the symbol of the Uzumaki clan on your back. As his son and as the future of this clan, Minato is proud of you." Kushina helped her son slip on the jacket.

Naruto looked at his own self in the mirror and had no words to describe how amazing it felt to wear it. For the first time he felt as though he had truly grown into an adult. It was surreal.

While he was revelling in the moment's glory, Naruto suddenly found his neck being wrapped gently by a blue scarf, the ends of which now hung freely behind his back. Similar to how his jacket had the Uzumaki clan's spiral symbol on the back, the two ends of this scarf had a design of three wave patterns in parallel to one another, the symbol of the Namikaze clan.

Naruto felt a comfortable warmth emanate from the scarf which couldn't be described by words, but one that undoubtedly reminded him of his mother. "Did you make this mom?"

"It didn't take long for you to realise. Indeed, I've been working on it for a while. I wanted to give it to you as a coming of age gift and now was as good a time as ever. I poured my heart into it, so I hope you like it."

Naruto smiled from his mother's genuine feelings that he could feel through the scarf.

"Like it? No mom…I love it, just like you." Naruto wrapped his mom in a gentle hug one that reminded him of the ones they shared during his childhood. He may have grown up, but his relationship with his mother would always remain the same.

Kushina hugged him back in response as well, the two sharing a moment of silent appreciation of one another before separating.

"I've embedded the symbol of the Namikaze within it. I know I don't say this too often because I don't want to overwhelm you with responsibilities, but everyone in my clan always tells me how proud they are of you, especially your grandfather, who loves you the most amongst all his grandchildren. Given that you are one of the grandchildren of the Namikaze clan's leader, your grandfather along with everyone within the clan unanimously would love for you to take the reins of the Namikaze if you ever chose to do so. Of course that is perhaps an unrealistic expectation given all the responsibilities you already have, but I think you should know that we are all happy with the splendid shinobi you have become." Kushina said happily. "But above all, as your mother I am proud to have you as my son. I love you Naruto."

"Me too mom." Naruto replied, feeling both of his parents' and their lineage's legacies weighing upon him. But this was a weight that he would carry with pride.

"The time for the meeting is upon us; shall we go?" Kushina asked while extending her hand to Naruto.

He reached out and held it back, just like he would do when the two of them walked around the village together when he was just a little kid.

Thus they exited Naruto's room and started walking to the main meeting room right near the entrance of the clan. As the two walked along, Naruto was amazed at how the entire courtyard had been changed in a matter of hours for the meeting. The number of people in attendance was also staggering; the leaders of every clan and the village's important personnel were present, so much so that there was no single room within the clan that could accommodate them all. This was not taking into account the visitors, which would not only include a large number of Hyuga, but also many other important members of Kirigakure's shinobi force and prominent clans. Thus the Uzumaki clan's gigantic courtyard was the only place that could hold all these people in one place and as such it had been decorated and set up to accommodate everyone.

Before long Naruto and Kushina reached the main meeting room, which had almost nothing but one rather large kotatsu in the middle and a Uzumaki clan symbol at the back. This room had been set up to hold the marriage meeting between the leaders of the two clans and their families.

Minato who was currently sitting at the kotatsu in his formal attire got up as he saw his family enter.

"You're looking great Naruto." He complimented after seeing that his son was ready for the meeting. "That clan leader's haori looks great on you just as I thought it would. Nonetheless, it's not a matter of how it looks. It symbolises your important role in determining the future of our clan today. So, let's do this."

"Yup, I'm ready." Naruto nodded confidently to his father.

Almost on cue a ninja appeared at the door. "Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, Naruto-sama. The Hyuga and the rest of the party from Kirigakure have arrived."

"Lead the Hyuga in." Minato ordered and the Uzumaki who was at the door nodded before disappearing.

This was it. The moment had come. Naruto could feel his heart pounding from anticipation. This was going to be a meeting of utmost important and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

"_Follow your heart…"_ Naruto remembered his mother's words and instantly he knew what, or perhaps "who" his heart led him to.

Thus Naruto closed his eyes in preparation of what he was about to do.

"The Hyuga are here." Both Minato and Kushina said in unison.

As soon as Naruto heard the door slide open and several people step in, he took in a deep breath to tell them exactly what came from his heart, still keeping his eyes closed to keep his focus.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, the heir of this clan. I know you have come here today to discuss a marriage proposal and an alliance between the two clans, but I do not want such an allegiance to be established on falsehood. To put it simply, I cannot go through with this marriage because I have already made a promise a long time ago to marry one particular girl. My heart belongs to her alone and I simply cannot lie to my own heart. Therefore, I'M SORRY!"

There was a moment of silence in the room as everyone apart from one person present there could not believe what Naruto just said…until someone decided to reply.

"And after all these years you can finally fulfil your promise to that certain girl, Naruto-kun."

That voice - the way it addressed him as "Naruto-kun". It could only belong to one person if she knew about the promise.

Thus Naruto opened his eyes and for the very first time his gaze met that of the Hyuga clan leader's daughter, Hinata. Or at least it was supposed to be for the first time…but it wasn't!

Those gentle eyes and the serene smile that was as bright as the sun itself instantly brought back a clear image of his very first love, filling in the broken memories.

"HIME!" Naruto exclaimed in both shock and excitement.

Thus, a reunion after an entire decade…

* * *

><p>It is about to begin. I hope you're ready.<p>

Most of you were indeed correct in your assumption that "Hime" was Hinata which was great to see. There is a backstory to this of course. For now I would love to know what your thoughts were on this chapter and next time...well you'll find out in due time what happens next time. It should be interesting.

So until next time, take care...and don't hate me for the cliffhangers lol. I'm an innocent man.


	4. The Outer Self

**The Outer Self**

Hello once again and I feel as though we are settling into a nice rhythm with this story now. So, let's get started.

* * *

><p>The six people in the room sat at the kotatsu, Naruto with his parents on one side and Hinata and her parents on the other.<p>

Hinata donned a purple kimono that matched her midnight blue hair colour. On top of it she wore a cloak with the symbol of the Hyuga clan engraved on the back. Her hands were also covered by black fingerless fabric gauntlets, atop which were the symbols of another clan.

Naruto's eyes were affixed on Hinata. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't take them off her for more than a few seconds, having them being drawn back at the mesmerising sight. She looked just like a princess, even more so now than what he remembered her as. He couldn't help but think that if this girl ended up becoming his wife, he would certainly be one of the "winners" in life, if looks were the only thing that mattered.

Hinata on the other hand was fidgeting around under Naruto's gaze, connecting her two index fingers together. It was her way of getting rid of her nervousness as she knew that her childhood love was currently looking at her intently. She only hoped that he liked what he was seeing. To her though Naruto remained the splitting image of the gallant knight she remembered him as, one who would go to any extent to protect her.

Minato cleared his throat somewhat loudly to get everyone's attention, in particular the two young ones present. "There is quite a lot we need to talk about, but since this is at least somewhat of a formal meeting, I suggest we start off with some introductions. I suppose I'll start. I'm Minato Uzumaki, the Uzumaki clan head and also the Kazekage, the leader of Uzushiogakure."

"My name is Kushina Namikaze, the youngest daughter of the Namikaze clan leader. Glad to meet you all." Kushina informed in a formal tone before poking her son with her elbow to make him continue, who was still too busy stealing glances at Hinata.

"Ah oh yeah…I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a member of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans of Uzushiogakure." He quickly ended his introduction and went back to secretly staring at Hinata, leaving his parents feeling a bit silly.

Hiashi decided to start off their side of introductions. "I am Hiashi Hyuga, the leader of both the Hyuga clan and Kirigakure. In other words I'm the Mizukage."

Hinata's mother was next in cue and she did not hesitate to pick up after her husband. Just by looking at her one could tell where Hinata got her appearance from, having a fair complexion and midnight blue hair.

"My name is Harumi Terumi…rhymes, I know!" She said jokingly with an infectious smile. "My affiliation lies with Kirigakure's Terumi clan, which I'm a prominent member of. Pleased to make all of your acquaintance."

Finally it was Hinata's turn and now Naruto was paying full attention. All the eyes in the room were also upon her, making her more nervous than ever.

"I-I-I'm Hinata H-Hyuga and due to m-my parents l-lineage, I'm a m-member of Kirigakure's two m-most prominent clans…the Terumi and Hyuga c-clans." She barely managed to stutter out before coiling back up out of shyness.

She was so cute, Naruto thought. The way she tried her best despite her shyness was just charming in its own way. But she was a Hyuga, one of the Uzumaki's greatest enemies. Those combined thoughts made for some conflicting emotions.

"So it has been a long time, Hyuga-san." Minato addressed Hiashi with a smile. "It is nice that we get to talk this time not as enemies, but as potential allies. I always thought such a feat would be possible with you, despite our clans' relationships."

"Indeed, much time has passed since we last met. Nearly 20 years if I recall correctly." Hiashi reminisced. "I still remember the "Battle of the Storm", when our clans collided for the very first time under our command as leaders. It was during that battle that you became famously known as Uzushiogakure's "Yellow Flash". It was said that if one saw the yellow flash left behind by your space-time teleportation, the battle would be over in the blink of an eye."

"You make it sound like I was the only one who achieved such feats during that battle." Minato continued. "You stopped an entire battalion singlehandedly, holding down the key strategic position of the battlefield just by yourself. Because of it everyone called you the "Iron Wall" Hiashi, one whose defence could not be penetrated."

"Then the two of us came face to face in battle, and I must admit, it was certainly the toughest ordeal I have ever faced. I was truly put to the test during that standoff."

"Same here." Minato answered back to his once fierce rival. "I'm just glad we both managed to get out of that in one piece, or else we wouldn't be sitting here today."

"That much we can certainly agree upon." Hiashi nodded in agreement.

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at their fathers with a sense of awe. They knew them as relatively normal people who spent most of their time in the office, but both of them had a storied past that earned them the reputation that they had amongst their people. It made them look at their parents in a different light.

"I suppose we could sit here and reminisce all day, but I really would like to cut straight to the chase." Minato had a rather serious tone as he addressed both his son and his prospective bride. "How do you two know each other?"

As Naruto expected, this was clearly going to be the obvious question. After all he had never told his parents about his meeting with Hinata. Therefore he decided to answer. "It happened 10 years ago during that one trip where dad took me with him to Konoha in the land of fire."

"Oh yeah I remember that trip. I was going to have a meeting with Hiruzen of the Sarutobi clan and I took you with me so that you could get to know the Sarutobi, given that they are one of our greatest allies." Minato recalled. "If I remember correctly that was also the trip in which you went missing Naruto."

Naruto nodded in response.

"Naruto went missing during a trip when he was 9 years old?" Kushina was stunned by this revelation. "You let our son go missing and didn't even bother informing me about it?"

"C-Calm down Kushina." Minato replied nervously. "There are reasons behind this."

"There better be some GOOD reasons indeed." Kushina said in an almost threatening tone.

"Seriously mom it wasn't dad's fault." Naruto came to his father's defence. "I just got bored of all the formal meetings and decided to run away into the hidden leaf forest to play. I think I must have gotten carried away like usual and ended up venturing far in, making it difficult for dad to find me. So he really isn't to blame."

"You've always been like that Naruto, playing pranks and up to all sorts of mischief. But your father letting you out of his sight and then subsequently not telling me about this blunder is unbelievable to me."

Minato coiled up slightly, knowing what he was about to say would not go too well with his wife. "I ended up using the fact that Naruto didn't want you to know about the incident to scare him into doing chores for a good while, all the way from mowing the courtyard to tying my shoelaces…stuff he'd never do as a kid."

"MINATO!" His wife was now visibly angry.

"FORGIVE ME!" Minato closed his eyes and put his hands in front of himself in his own defence.

"Mom, dad, you're embarrassing yourselves in front of our guests." Naruto tried to whisper to his parents, but everyone could hear him.

Hinata and her mother couldn't help but giggle lightly at the exchange between the Uzumaki family members.

"You have quite the eccentric family, Uzumaki-san." Hiashi said in his usual stoic tone.

"I don't know if you mean that as a compliment or not." Minato replied with a sigh.

"I think that's a compliment, coming from him." Harumi responded, finding her husband's comment to be an amusing one given his usual uptight nature.

"In any case, let's get back to the discussion at hand." Minato resumed. "So what happened after you went into the hidden leaf forest?"

"I was playing around in the forest until I explored too far in and I couldn't quite find my way back anymore. I was lost. As I was walking around searching for an exit, I miraculously stumbled across a girl about the same age as me. That girl was Hinata." Naruto pointed at the grownup version of the 9 year old girl that he had met back then.

Kushina was a bit perplexed by the scenario concerning Hinata. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing in the hidden leaf forest?"

"I was l-lost too." She replied meekly. "I was travelling with some of the other clan members through the hidden leaf forest until I got separated from them and ended up lost. It was during that time I met N-Naruto-kun."

Hinata's father now diverted his attention to Naruto and decided to speak directly to him. "I understand that I should have done this a long time ago, but circumstances did not permit it. Even though my words will never be enough, I hope you will accept my sincerest gratitude for what you did for our daughter back then."

Hinata's mother also chimed in at the same time. "I feel exactly the same way. If not for you, our child may not even be with us today. So truly, thank you!"

Naruto was completely caught off guard by the Hyuga's kind words. This went completely against what he knew them as, who he was told as ruthless and unforgiving. He didn't know what he was meant to do in this scenario. "P-Please, you don't need to thank me. I did what was the right thing to do, and I'm just glad I was able to help her out back then."

"You are too kind." Harumi said with a wry smile. "To be completely honest, we weren't the ones who came up with the idea behind this marriage proposal. It was Hinata herself who suggested it to us because she has harboured feelings towards you since that day. I don't think I could blame her for it either given what you did for her. Women's hearts can be quite dedicated to their first love, especially when it is founded on strong grounds."

"We are told by Hinata that you at least to some degree had mutual feelings back then. I understand much time has elapsed since that event and you may no longer feel the same way. After all childhood words can be fickle sometimes. But in case you still do, I hope you will consider my daughter as a candidate for your potential bride despite the history between our clans. You are special to her and I do not think after all these years she could imagine anyone else but yourself as her husband. I also wanted to iterate that despite its appearance this marriage proposal wasn't made as a strictly political one. However I believe it will have some greatly beneficial effects for both parties if it went through, as I am sure you can image given that you are both the children of the Uzumaki and Hyuga clan leaders." Hiashi explained in the sincerest of tones.

As he took a took a quick glance at the shy girl who was still twiddling her fingers, Naruto understood that despite all this time she hadn't forgotten about him just as he hadn't forgotten about her. She even went as far as to arrange this meeting despite her reserved nature. All of this brought an inexplicable sense of relief and joy to his heart, knowing that those feelings always remained mutual.

"WAIT!" Kushina nearly shouted out in confusion. "Anyone care to fill us in on what exactly happened between these two?"

"I would like to know as well." Minato joined in, looking just as confused. "I'm not sure I followed anything thus far."

Although much time had passed, Hinata could never forget her encounter with Naruto. Thus she decided to explain. "The r-reason I got separated from my clan at that time was because we were attacked by Kumogakure shinobi. E-Even though I managed to get away for a bit, I was eventually found. It was then that N-Naruto-kun fought those shinobi to protect me."

"It was your son's courageous act to protect my daughter even though he knew full well he could have died that kept her from being kidnapped by Kumogakure and have her eyes extracted. In the worst case she may not even be alive right now." Hiashi added.

"WHOA this is crazy!" Kushina exclaimed in shock as she looked at her son. "You actually fought fully fledged Kumogakure ninja at the age of 9? Although I'm glad that you weren't harmed, how did you manage to win?"

"I didn't do it by myself mom." Naruto quickly clarified. "Both Hinata and I fought together. If not for her I wouldn't have managed to push those guys back. My memories don't serve me too well anymore, but I think we also had some kind of help. But ultimately it was our combined effort back then that allowed us to win."

"Well in that case how did you not figure out that Hinata was a Hyuga if you fought alongside each other?" Minato asked curiously. "Her eyes should have been a dead giveaway."

"Back then I didn't know about the Hyuga at all. You guys told me about the Hyuga and our conflict with them much later when I was older. I hadn't seen a Hyuga before either, so there was no way for me to tell she was one. Also, by the time you guys did tell me about the Hyuga, my exact memories of Hinata had already faded quite a bit and I didn't remember much of her features, or a whole lot of our encounter. In fact it was only her smile and the way she referred to me as Naruto-kun earlier that made me recognise her as the girl from my childhood."

"I see…that kind of makes sense. People generally don't remember details about individuals they met when they were kids." Minato nodded in agreement. "But then surely you must have at least remembered her name being Hinata Hyuga right?"

"Ah yeah…about that." Naruto scratched his head feeling silly. "When I first saw her she looked like a princess to me, so I kept calling her "Hime". I ended up forgetting to ask for her name."

"Oh Naruto…" Kushina facepalmed at her son's stupidity.

Hinata on the other hand blushed lightly from Naruto calling her a princess, even if that compliment was directed at her younger self.

"Well, at least they managed to meet again since Hinata remembered Naruto. I guess it worked out in the end." Minato replied as positively as he could. "So, what about this marriage? I wasn't previously aware that our children had known each other for so long, let alone having feelings. This certainly changes the overall outlook of things, since initially I assumed that this meeting would just be an opportunity for us to sit down and talk about some of the current issues we are facing. My hopes were that we could possibly start to put an end to the animosity shared between our clans…not that I felt much in the first place personally."

"I do agree with that sentiment." Hiashi concurred. "Although the Hyuga elders have always tried to drill the fact that the Uzumaki are our sworn enemies into every single clan member, ever since I became a clan leader I really have been questioning more and more our reason for fighting apart from the cycle of revenge, which we don't even remember the start of. Knowing you from our previous encounters, I had a feeling you would agree with me in wanting to put an end to our clans' terrible long standing history of aggression. Therefore when I found out about Hinata meeting your son and her insistence on making this proposal, I thought this would be perfect. If our children were to indeed get married then that would most definitely be the first big step towards a union between out clans. But of course when word got out about this potential marriage, there was an outrage within the clan. The concept of a Hyuga marrying an Uzumaki was inconceivable to most, especially the elders."

"I can certainly understand that. I don't think a lot of the Uzumaki are happy with this either, but luckily they all trust Naruto. So they're willing to let him decide." Minato elaborated. "How did you get the rest of your clan to agree?"

"I didn't…" Hiashi stated with a serious look on his face. "Hinata did."

Minato was confused by what he heard. From what he saw Hinata didn't appear the bold type of person. "How?" He asked.

Hinata looked like she had seen a ghost after hearing Minato's question. Her mother looked similarly distressed.

Hiashi seemed somewhat hesitant in explaining the matter as well, but he knew he had to say something. "She-"

But before he could finish, they heard a sudden crashing noise of something breaking outside, followed by a chorus of loud shouting.

"We better go take a look." Kushina suggested to the rest.

"Yeah…it seems like trouble is brewing." Minato replied in agreement.

* * *

><p>I hope you liked the chapter.<p>

Interestingly enough the title of this chapter is referring to Hinata. I've made her character a bit different than what you may expect as you will see next chapter, which is aptly called "The Inner Self".

I suppose it would be interesting to see if anyone figured out the last question about how Hinata managed to get the Hyuga to agree with her idea regarding this marriage. This will also become clear next chapter.

So, I will see you all next time, which will hopefully be soon.


	5. The Inner Self

**The Inner Self**

I did say last time that I hoped to see you all soon. And this is a pretty quick update thanks to the motivation all of you gave me in the reviews to write it quickly. I hope you'll like it :)

* * *

><p>Naruto and Hinata along with their families ran out into the courtyard only to find a tense atmosphere between the Hyuga and Uzumaki present.<p>

In the midst of it all a young Uzumaki girl in her mid-teens was in tears looking at the mess the food was in on the ground. Her older brother was standing right next to her glaring at the Hyuga, who was in his early twenties as he glared right back.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT?" Her brother shouted at the top of his lungs. "My little sister put in so much effort to make that food for all the guests."

"As if I would ever eat food from an Uzumaki. Knowing your kind you must have poisoned it."

"WHY YOU?!" The Uzumaki boy looked like he was at the verge of punching the Hyuga. "ARE YOU SUGGESTING MY LITTLE SISTER WOULD DO SUCH A THING?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. She's an evil witch just like the rest of you."

Thus the situation took a turn for the worse with each exchange as the two now looked ready to fight. To make matters even worse, many of the other Uzumaki and Hyuga were starting to get involved as well making the situation reach a near boiling point fast.

Naruto and Hinata were in shock at how quickly things were turning bad. They had heard their clans didn't get along, but to have a fallout within minutes of getting together was beyond even their imaginations. Their reunion was about to be cut abruptly short if nothing was done at this very moment.

Minato and Hiashi both looked very worried as well. They both knew that putting the members of their clans in the same village was a bad idea, let alone in the same compound. It wouldn't take too much of a provocation for their clans to start an all-out war.

"This is not looking good." Minato said to the fellow clan leader.

"It could get ugly fast if we do not intervene at this very moment." Hiashi suggested to his peer. "If this meeting is ruined by a clash between our clans, we may never get another chance to form an alliance again."

"I know…but what would be the best course of action? Think…" As Minato was about to come up with a plan, he saw his son move into action.

Naruto jumped in and landed right in between the two sides, spreading his arms wide while looking at his clan, motioning them to not let matters get out of hand any further.

"Please guys; don't do this. Not now, not today." He desperately pleaded to the rest of his clan members. "Today we're trying to stop the fighting, not begin it anew."

"But Naruto, you saw what that guy did to my sister right? How can I simply accept my family being insulted in such a vile manner?"

Naruto looked at the two siblings and sympathised with them, especially the young girl who had poured her heart into making the meatballs that were on the ground, which no one got to try. Her tears saddened him greatly. He didn't want to see any of his clan members in sorrow. So Naruto picked up one of the meatballs on the ground and ate it.

"Wow…these are AMAZING Chihiro!" He complimented, his stunned facial expression proving that he was speaking genuinely. "No seriously, you have gotten beyond just good. These are incredible compared to when you first started out learning to make them."

"Really?" The young girl asked with a hopeful look.

"Of course!" Naruto replied as he patted her on the head, given that she was like his little sister. "It is a true shame no one else got to try them out. But I appreciate you for the great effort you put into this food. I'll recognise all of your hard work."

Hearing his words Chihiro started to cry again, to which Naruto was caught off guard.

"W-Why are you crying? I said they were amazing."

The young Uzumaki did her best to wipe away her tears. "No…it's just that I'm so happy that you acknowledged me."

Her words brought Naruto some relief because he thought he had said something wrong. Little did he know however that he was the one person Chihiro wanted to impress the most with her cooking, and hence her reason for crying after hearing his compliment.

"You know what, when someone works really hard, they deserve a reward. So choose any gift that you like, and I'll buy it for you as long as it is within my capability." Naruto said with one of his trademark grins. "It can be anything that your heart desires."

"You are as kind as always. Thank you, Naruto-niisama." Chihiro replied with a heartfelt smile. Although she knew that what she truly wanted wasn't something Naruto could give her, she still smiled at him to show her appreciation towards his kindness.

Hinata was observing the exchange between Naruto and the younger clan member and she noticed something peculiar. At first she thought she was imagining things, but upon a little closer inspection she could clearly recognise it. The way in which the young girl looked at Naruto, those were definitely love-struck eyes. Oh no…

To compound upon the matter, as Hinata looked around the courtyard many of the younger female members of the Uzumaki clan as well as the other clans from Uzushiogakure also had a similar look in their eyes. It would appear that Naruto was the centre of admiration of many of the female members of his clan and village, a fact that he seemed to be quite acutely unaware of. All of this attention made Hinata very nervous.

But it wasn't just the young girls who admired Naruto. As Hinata looked even more in detail she could clearly see that every member of the Uzumaki clan showed an inherent respect towards Naruto, even if he was younger than many of them. Simply put, the rest of his clan trusted him deeply and Hinata didn't have a hard time understanding why, given Naruto's kind and selfless nature. Seeing Naruto's relationship with his clan made Hinata feel a deep sense of sadness. She only wished she had something even remotely close to that which he had.

Naruto looked at the rest of his clan members and gently waved at them to take it easy. "See, everything's alright now, so let's all calm down."

"Fine…" Chihiro's older brother agreed despite his reluctance. "But we'll let it slide only because you said so, and this is an important day for you. We're definitely not backing down because of the Hyuga. Let that be clear."

The rest of the Uzumaki sounded their agreement with him as they started to disperse. Naruto could only sigh out of relief. It would appear the situation was defused without too much of an issue.

However that was oversight on Naruto's part as the Hyuga whispered something amongst themselves. Hinata on the other hand knew her clan all too well to realise it wasn't over yet and she felt the urge to step in. But at the same time she realised what would happen if she did decide to step in. She didn't want any more hostility. Thus Hinata was in a state of turmoil, not knowing exactly what she needed to do. For now she hoped that her clan members would take Naruto's cue and give this matter a rest.

But that was of course not the case as the Hyuga that started the argument decided to maliciously step over the food that was on the ground, adding insult to injury.

"Way to butter up the rest of your clan." He commented cynically. "You call this travesty food? Give me a break. That girl and the rest of the Uzumaki clan are nothing but a bunch of failures."

Hinata panicked as soon as she heard those words. She had to do something to stop them, or they would not give it a rest until everything got completely out of hand. Today she was the representative of the Hyuga clan as she wore the clan's symbol on her back. Thus she felt obliged to do something about it. Not to mention, she had been waiting incredibly long and worked very hard to set up this meeting. There was no way she could let this reunion between herself and Naruto get ruined now. Thus she braced herself, despite her reluctance, to take action.

Now this guy was starting to get on Naruto's nerves as well. It seemed like he was trying to deliberately step on his clan's toes and start a fight. And it was working as the rest of the Uzumaki did not take well to the snide comment.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" One of the Uzumaki shouted back in response.

"I said you are all a bunch of utter failures. A COMPLETE DISGRACE!"

The Uzumaki were no longer going to let such insults slide, at their own home nonetheless. They were getting ready to retaliate. The situation was about to erupt.

Hinata knew the time had come for her to act. Before everything melted down into chaos, she had to stop her clan. Thus, with no other choices left, she finally activated her eyes, the Byakugan, causing the veins in her temples to bulge in response.

At this point Naruto himself assumed a cold tone as he directed his words at the Hyuga while still trying to keep his composure. "Could you not make this any worse? You are our guests and we like to treat our guests in the best way possible. I would appreciate it if you didn't make that job difficult for us."

But the young Hyuga took Naruto's words in mere jest as he replied with a cynical smirk, "That's right, keep the rest of your dogs on a leash. That also includes the little bi-"

His sentence was cut short by a gut wrenching punch that left him staggering several steps backwards in unimaginable pain. The blow had knocked the wind out of his lungs as he dropped face first on to the ground while gasping for air.

Naruto along with the rest of the Hyuga looked on in shock at what just happened, but their reasons for being shocked were completely different. For Naruto, he could not believe Hinata was the one to take such action. For the rest of the Hyuga however, they dreaded the fact that Hinata had been pushed to the point of taking such action.

"H-Hinata-sama, please forgive him and the rest of us for what just happened. It is my earnest request." One of the older Hyuga pleaded in a panicky voice. "We have definitely overstepped our bounds."

"Back off…unless you want to join him." That was Hinata's simple reply. But her entire clan unanimously took multiple steps backwards just from the sheer murderous intent that was within Hinata's eyes. They knew there was nothing more they could do for their clan member now apart from watching his sad fate unfold.

She now diverted her attention to the Hyuga that was lying on the ground in front of her. "Now then, what were my orders again before we came here? I remember making it abundantly clear that any kind of unruly conduct during this meeting would not be tolerated. So, what shall we do about your transgressions?"

At this point there was nothing but a look of pure fear in the Hyuga's eyes as he laid on the ground helplessly from the pain of the previous impact. "I-I'm terribly sorry for what I have done. I'm begging you Hinata-sama, please forgive me."

"Forgiveness…" Hinata's eyes showed cold indifference to that word as she stepped on his right hand. "Tell me, was it this hand that you used to break that plate?"

The Hyuga was now shaking in terror, so much so that words would not escape his mouth.

"I asked you a question." Hinata reminded in an ice cold voice.

"Y-Yes." Came a hesitant reply. "Please Hinata-sama, I will never make this mistake again. Please show some mercy. I'm begging you for forgiveness."

Keeping her foot affixed on her clan member's hand Hinata decided to ask one more question. "Tell me, as a Hyuga you agree with this view correct, that those who have power are the ones who are right?"

The person lying on the ground was in so much fear at this point that his brain couldn't even process what he heard correctly. But he knew all too well not to ever disagree with Hinata. Thus he nodded his agreement, to which Hinata's eyes glinted as she got ready to take action.

"Then I have the power, SO I'M RIGHT!" She shouted and at the same time with a sickening crack she shattered the bones in the young man's hand.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Screams of pure agony reverberated around the compound as the Hyuga writhed in pain under Hinata's foot while she kept increasing the force with which she crushed his hand. She wasn't just satisfied with breaking the bones; she made sure to thoroughly shatter them. Hinata looked like she was relishing the moment of seeing her fellow clan member suffer in agony.

Every other person present at the compound was stunned to silence from the sheer gruesome display, making the screams that much more horrific to the ear.

Having damaged him to her heart's content Hinata crouched down next to her clan member and put a finger on her lips to indicate to him to stop shouting. "Shhhhhhhh…You're bothering all the other guests. Quiet down, unless you want me to tear your larynx out and do it for you."

The young man instantly held in the excruciating pain within him and sealed his mouth shut. If he was lucky she would decide to let him go with this much.

"That's a good boy." Hinata complimented as she stood up once again. "I suppose a dog like you can follow orders once in a while."

She now looked over to the girl whose meal her clan member had ruined. "You there, little girl. He's down, so if you wish to exact your revenge, now's the perfect opportunity."

Chihiro jumped behind Naruto, terrified of what Hinata could potentially do to her after seeing what she did to her own clan member.

This move finally allowed Naruto and Hinata's gazes to meet. Just the deadly look in her eyes sent Naruto's ninja senses into complete disarray. These eyes were a far cry from the warm and sympathetic ones he remembered. But he also knew intrinsically that he faced someone unbelievably powerful unlike anyone before. It was to the point that adrenaline was rushing through his body knowing the danger he faced, and danger was something a ninja of his caliber seldom faced. His fight or flight response was on the ready.

"W-Why? Why did you do that to him?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "He is your fellow clan member."

Hinata only smiled cynically in response as she turned around to look at the rest of her clan members, who all instantly scurried backwards in complete and utter fear.

This was Hinata. She was not the heiress to the Hyuga clan. Neither was she its leader. Rather, she WAS the Hyuga clan. Her will was the Hyuga clan manifested. And if anyone or anything did not fit in accordance to her will, she would break them just as she did with the young man earlier. Unlike Naruto who shared a bond of trust and respect with the Uzumaki, Hinata dominated the Hyuga through fear alone. Fear of her insurmountable power.

"What happened to you Hinata?" Naruto asked once again, still not being able to come to terms with the fact that the kind and generous Hinata could turn out to be like this. "Hime, how did you become like this?"

That last question made Hinata turn towards Naruto with a forceful gaze. "If it were up to me I would have challenged you to a battle right now to see first-hand what the Uzumaki's heir is capable of. However, the other one seems to have taken a liking towards you, so I don't want to take any actions that she would regret too much later. She thinks of you as her knight in shining armour and has been waiting for this reunion for years. But I don't hold such sentiments. To me you are just an Uzumaki…a rival at best, an enemy at worst. Therefore, when I'm around – watch your back – because nobody else will be able to under my gaze."

With that final statement Hinata deactivated her eyes, returning them back to normal as she dropped down to her knees. Her usual meek demeanour had also returned, but when she looked at the mess that was left over from what she had done, Hinata held her head with both hands as tears rolled down her eyes. "W-What has she done? No…what have I done? Not again!" She cried in paranoia, leaving Naruto in an even greater state of confusion.

"What is going on Hiashi?" Minato asked his rival with the utmost seriousness. "She is more than just a simple problem child. Her eyes…I could feel that they were far beyond that of any other Hyuga. It's as if they changed her completely as a person. What is going on here?"

With sadness in his eyes, Hiashi looked at his daughter who was now struggling with her own psyche. He knew the time had come for him to explain everything. "She is Hinata, the Hyuga's bane…the one who the entire clan fears unanimously. And this is the clan's recompense for what it did to her."

* * *

><p>Just as <strong>SkyUnih, AAAllisWell, Arthur Sontill, Flameraven<strong> and **NaruHinaRyu** predicted, Hinata's alter ego has shown up. But I wonder if she is what you expected her to be? I should say that there is actually a big reason for why she even has an alternate side, which is important to the plot. In fact Hiashi hints at it in this chapter. I'd love to see if anyone can guess the reason. I just love reading all of your theories and they can give me cool ideas as well :)

**Chewie Cookies** and **chandu-itachi**: Minato being Kazekage was not a typo. It'll be explained as part of a later chapter.

**guest 8**: D'Awww. You are going to make me blush with what you said. Thank you!

**hinataellis** and **Rose Tiger**: Add me to the group as well. I'm so glad Naruto and Hinata got to reunite...WAIT! I'm the one writing this, so I was the one who made them reunite in the first place. Ummm...what the heck? I'm still happy they reunited :)

As always, I really appreciate the great support you've all shown this story and once again I hope to see you all next time with some answers. Oh and was this the biggest cliffhanger yet or what lol?


	6. The Birth of the Hyuga's Bane

**The Birth of the Hyuga's Bane**

It was nice to see a lot of you being surprised by Hinata's split personality, and her other self being received well. I loved the various names you guys gave her alternate ego, in particular my favourite was "Hinata-bane" from **SkyUnih**. Makes her sound like a Batman character lol. In any case, this time you get to find out how she came to be.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Hinata's parents were once again sitting at the kotatsu in the meeting room, but this time there was an awkward air of tension between them. Both sides knew exactly what the matter was they needed to discuss, but neither side knew exactly how to tackle it.<p>

Realising that it was his job to explain the situation, Hiashi decided to start. "I understand you are probably wondering as to what exactly happened with my daughter earlier."

Both Minato and Kushina nodded in unison while assuming a serious look on their faces.

"Then let us cut straight to the chase. To put it simply, Hinata suffers from a medical condition known as Multiple Personality Disorder. In other words, Hinata has two very distinct personalities that she can switch between."

Minato and Kushina had guessed something like this would be the case, but neither of them wanted to believe it was true.

"Are you serious?" Kushina asked, still not satisfied with the answer. "I've never actually seen someone with such a condition. How did this happen?"

"That's not the only issue here." Minato added to his wife's enquiry. "There was something about her eyes. They weren't the average Byakugan that a Hyuga possesses. They were different somehow. I could feel it. And I'm willing to bet that is the reason why the Hyuga clan seems to fear her."

Hiashi let out a long breath in response. "You are as intuitive as always. But that is to be expected from a Kage. Indeed you are correct. Hinata's eyes are special, and that is the source of her power."

"Care to elaborate?" Both Minato and Kushina asked in sync, curious to know what it all meant.

"Very well, I shall explain. But to do this we must first talk a little bit about the Hyuga's history." Hiashi cleared his throat as he got ready to explain. "Long ago after the dawn of humanity, it was soon found that a select group of people amongst the rest were able to naturally generate a much larger amount of energy within their bodies than the average person, and subsequently wield that energy in the form of certain techniques. This group of people were later termed "ninja", and their techniques "ninja arts"."

"I think everyone knows this." Kushina replied. "This is the story of how we ninja came to be. How does this relate to the Hyuga though?"

"Amongst the ninja, a very small sub-group of them wished to enhance their vision beyond normal limitations by focusing their physical energy to their eyes. To do this, they trained their eyesight rigorously over many generations until eventually their eyes mutated, becoming enhanced and distinct compared to that of all other shinobi. Thus the Byakugan was born and those who wielded it became known as the Hyuga clan."

"Sounds like what you would expect." Minato answered. "After all, the Uzumaki clan formed in a similar way. Just that in our case we trained to further increase the energy our bodies could produce. Hence we have the largest reserves amongst all ninja."

"That is true. In fact most ninja clans and their specific bloodline limits were formed in this way as each clan focused on gaining mastery of certain abilities." Hiashi nodded in agreement with Minato. "However, while most bloodline related abilities have been the same since their inception, the Hyuga's Byakugan over the course of history has not remained constant. Ever since a particular point in time, the Byakugan has demonstrated anomalies within a select few Hyuga under extremely rare circumstances. Hinata is one of those people, and hence why she is feared by the rest of the clan."

"Is this linked to Hinata's split personality?" Kushina couldn't help but ask as she wanted to know even more.

"Indeed it is." Hiashi said calmly. "In fact, what I have said so far is only to preface the story I'm about to tell you next. Therefore, let us begin the tale of the birth of the Hyuga's bane…"

**Flashback beginning – 8 years ago**

Hinata Hyuga was 11 years of age, currently walking through a long hallway of the Hyuga compound that led to the clan's main dojo. She had been summoned by one of the clan elders to attend urgently, and thus she scurried to get to her destination so as not to anger the elder. The only problem – Hinata was in no condition to move, let alone walk.

The bones on her lower left arm were cracked perpendicularly across the middle. Her right ankle also had a pretty bad fracture, making her unable to put any pressure on it. Two heavy casts covered both of her injured limbs. Several of her ribs were broken as well, making for any kind of rapid movement a very painful affair. To compound on to all of this, Hinata could barely see either. After diagnosis the doctors said that she had over overexerted her eyes to the point that her optic nerves had become severely damaged. In fact it was so bad that they even warned that Hinata was at serious risk of losing her vision completely if her eyes were strained any further. Thus Hinata could currently only see through a tunnel vision, and activating her Byakugan was completely out of question as its activation was accompanied with unbearable pain. Therefore the doctors suggested to her at least two weeks of bed rest before she even attempted to walk or even activate her Byakugan, which would take about a month to fully return to normal.

Although her situation was miserable to put it lightly, Hinata welcomed it. Because of her state she thought that at least now her clan would allow her to take some rest. But that was of course wishful thinking as her clan did not quite care about her predicament. Even though she was discharged just last night, she had already been summoned by one of the elders. Hinata only dreaded the reason why she was called given that it was because of them that she was like this in the first place.

They stated the reason for Hinata's current state as "training accidents". In reality it was nothing short of a mob beat down by order of the elders, who were in charge of her training right now since both of her parents were out of the village tending to clan related matters for the past two weeks.

But it didn't matter. Even if her parents were around things would only be slightly less brutal, but brutal nonetheless. In the eyes of her clan Hinata was weak, especially given the fact that she was the daughter of the clan leader. Thus she was always put through intense training exercises that bordered on inhumane, in the hopes of making her stronger. In reality though, Hinata wasn't weak. It's just that she disliked fighting. She only just wanted a normal, peaceful life. A life that was free from turmoil and the Hyuga's harrowing regime in which only power alone was valued. Despite this Hinata desperately tried to live up to her clan's expectations, but her innate shy nature made it difficult for her to live up to them. She was just not the type of person that a Hyuga was expected to be. And that fact alone was made to be the biggest bane of her existence.

As Hinata walked towards the dojo, the Hyuga that went passed her sneered at her rather than feeling sympathetic. The injuries on Hinata's body were a sign of her glaring weakness to the rest of her clan. Despite the mistreatment and no one there to help her, Hinata barely managed to limp her way across the long hallway using just one crutch on her remaining functioning hand. Each step however sent a sharp pain across her chest and made it difficult to breathe due to the multiple broken ribs. But she still somehow dragged her body to her destination from fear alone, knowing that if she didn't show up the repercussions would be dire. She slid the door open and almost stumbled forward on her way in due to the restricted eyesight and fatigue within her body.

Once she looked around closely Hinata saw one of the elders, Miyabi, four Hyuga guardsmen and most surprisingly, her younger sister, Hanabi present at the dojo. All of them looked at her with critical eyes.

Keeping herself barely standing upright on one leg and her crutch, Hinata addressed the elder that was present. "Y-You called me Miyabi-sama?"

"Indeed, I did." She replied with a stern glare. "After your pathetic performance over the training regimen for the past week we are all disappointed beyond words. You have not only demonstrated for the umpteenth time your glaring weakness in battle and the lack of any kind of skill in using your eyes, but at this point you've butchered the name of the Hyuga clan along with yourself. The whole village is speaking about how the older child of the Hyuga clan leader had to be hospitalised because she couldn't even keep up with her training. This is simply unacceptable. In fact, it is disgraceful."

Hinata didn't know what to say. At this point she knew what her clan was like, but to think they could be this cold-hearted was beyond even her imagination. When she should have been getting assistance from her clan members after receiving such grievous injuries, she was instead being berated for those same injuries. What kind of messed up logic was this?

"I'm t-truly sorry Miyabi-sama. It wasn't my intention to sully the name of o-our clan. I've b-been doing my best, but…I-In any case, I ask for your forgiveness." Hinata replied as earnestly as she was able.

But her reply only helped anger the elder even more. "ENOUGH OF YOUR EXCUSES! Your BEST just isn't good enough. As I'm sure you're aware by now, the Hyuga clan does not accept failures and you have done nothing but drag our name through the mud ever since you were born. At this point we're reaching the end of the line with you."

Those words stung really badly, and knowing their implications, they caused Hinata to panic. "P-Please don't say that. I'm terribly sorry for d-disappointing you all. I'll do better next time. So please, give me one more chance."

Miyabi contemplated for a second before looking back at Hinata with the smallest of smirks. "Yes, I think I agree. We will give you one last chance to prove yourself. I think it's only fair given you are Hiashi's daughter."

Hinata was overjoyed. For the very first time one of the elders had shown her some kind of generosity.

"However, that chance will present itself right this moment." The elder stated the caveat, her smirk getting bigger. "You will fight your younger sister right now, who has shown much more promise than you ever have. If you are to win, you get to continue as is and we neglect the shortcomings you've demonstrated. However, if you lose, the consequences this time will be severe. Therefore, prepare yourself Hinata Hyuga."

Hinata was in absolute shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was expected to fight in her current condition with so many fractured and broken bones across her body. Not to mention, she wasn't even able to activate her Byakugan, the Hyuga's very signature. To top it all off she was put up against her little sister of all people. This was just cruel, like rubbing salt in wound.

"H-Honourable elder, you cannot be s-serious." Hinata countered desperately. "I'm in no condition to fight at this moment. Even the doctors h-have said so. Please at least allow me to get well first. Not to mention, H-Hanabi is my sister. You cannot expect me to fight her."

"Those handicaps are your own doing. Now you must face this challenge with what you've brought upon yourself." The elder replied sternly. "As for Hanabi, if you can't even beat a girl about half your age, you deserve no sympathy no matter what your condition."

"P-Please, you can't." Hinata requested desperately, but her words fell to deaf ears. She was shocked to find that even her little sister was taking a stance to attack her.

"Now…BEGIN!" The elder ordered and as soon as she did Hanabi thrust forward one of her palms, sending a burst of air towards her sister that sent her crashing into one of the walls of the dojo, leaving her sprawled out and immobilised on the floor.

Thus the battle was over.

The impact rattled all the broken bones in Hinata's body and pain tore through her body in response. She gritted her teeth and clenched her palms so as to not scream in agony, because she knew that doing so would only make her punishment worse. The injury got so much worse that she could no longer even move. So she just laid motionlessly on the ground, hoping that eventually the aching within her body would calm down. But her real concern now was what the repercussion for this instant loss will be. As though her worries were answered, the elder was standing in front of her shaking her head from side to side.

"For years we have been patient, accepting your failures, but now it is clear. There is no redemption with you. We can no longer tolerate this. You have disgraced the Hyuga for the final time." Miyabi said with anger evident in her voice. "Therefore, as the ultimate punishment for every single time you have failed the Hyuga, I deem that the Caged Bird Seal be applied on you."

Hinata's face was overcome with fear as soon as she heard the last statement. She had known all along that the elders were contemplating on applying the Hyuga's cursed seal on her, but her parents kept them at bay with the hopes that she would one day realise her potential. Now there was no getting away from it considering that the two people who defended her were not present. Her worst nightmare was about to become a reality because almost her entire clan thought of her as being weak and unworthy. They all just valued power.

"No…please no." Hinata requested with tears flowing from her eyes. "Please, forgive me. I'll try my best. I'll become better. I'll do whatever you say. Anything but that. Please…"

"My decision is absolute. There is nothing more you can say or do which will change it."

Hinata knew that she was in serious trouble. She couldn't get marked by the caged bird seal. She absolutely did not want such a thing to happen, because the caged bird seal was only applied on those members who had disgraced the clan to the utmost level with their actions; ones who had failed beyond redemption. The X shaped mark on the forehead of those who were sealed was openly present for everyone to see exactly what happened to a failure in the eyes of a Hyuga. It was a sign of disgrace and anyone who was sealed was ostracized by the clan as no Hyuga wanted to associate with them. And given the Hyuga clan's influence over Kirigakure, the person who was sealed was also shunned by the rest of the villagers given that they all knew only the worst of the worst were marked with that seal. Since the seal also destroyed a Hyuga's eyes upon death, in the absolute worst cases, the person applied with it could also be exiled. It simply destroyed your life. And if all of that wasn't enough, the one applied with the seal could also be tortured by the sealer by directly attacking their brain cells.

"I'm begging you for forgiveness." Hinata cried desperately, her face overtaken by paranoia due to fear. "Please, show me mercy."

"You never lived up to our expectations, but the greatest disgrace you brought upon us was when you were saved by an Uzumaki. That feat in and of itself was enough to warrant the caged bird seal. However, being Hiashi's daughter, you were given more chances, and you squandered each and every single one of them. This has been a long time coming. It is only fitting for a failure like you, one who would associate with an Uzumaki."

The mention of the Uzumaki brought back memories of the boy who had saved her from disaster before.

"_Naruto-kun, please save me!"_ Hinata cried for help within her mind, but alas, there was no Naruto to save her this time.

"Brace yourself." The elder started the preparations to apply the seal.

Hinata scrambled her broken body backwards, but her back was against the wall. There was nowhere to run. "You can't do this to me. I did nothing wrong. I only wanted a peaceful life. This is not right."

"Right?" The elder cynically smirked at the young Hyuga's last statement. "You should understand by now that within the Hyuga clan only those who have power are the ones that are right. And I have the power, SO I'M RIGHT!"

It was during this moment that Hinata realised how twisted and evil the Hyuga's way was as the elder grasped on to her forehead despite her desperate struggling.

"FORBIDDEN JUTSU: CAGED BIRD SEAL!" She shouted and instantly the mark of the caged bird seal appeared on Hinata's forehead. But the torture was only just about to begin. "Now for your first punishment. Seal – ACTIVATE!"

The seal on Hinata's head glowed a light blue, sending a searing pain tearing through her brain to every part of her body.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! GAHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO MORE! PLEASE NO MOREEEEE!" Hinata screamed in utter agony, but the pain only got greater. She grabbed on to her hair with both hands and tore locks of them out of her skull in the hopes of stopping the intense burning sensation within her head, but nothing helped. Her body spasmed uncontrollably almost as though she was having a seizure. Nothing she did would calm the pain. Nothing. It was hopeless.

It was also at this point that Hinata learned the true meaning of anger and hatred, feelings that had built up over the years due to the mistreatment she had received from her clan, but now unleashed completely. All other emotions within her were gone, replaced by only anger and hatred against her own clan…against the Hyuga. She only wished to make them suffer the same pain she was suffering. That wish overcame her entire being, overtaking even the inexplicable pain she currently felt. That one wish became her salvation within the madness.

Thus, during this moment of utter desperation and despair, Hinata heard someone within her head.

"_**I'll make them suffer."**_ She heard her own voice say.

But Hinata never wished for anyone to suffer. She only wanted a peaceful existence.

"_**The Hyuga do not understand such peace. They will only understand through suffering. The same suffering they inflicted upon me."**_ She heard her voice say once again.

But Hinata only wanted to live and let live. She only wanted to survive.

"_**Then it is time I fought for my own survival. There is no other choice. I must fight to live."**_ Her own voice said again, this time completely consuming her entire psyche.

"_Indeed…there is no other choice."_ With her back against the wall she finally agreed with her own voice. She let the anger and hatred consume herself completely, giving birth to a new Hinata, one who would protect her.

"BYAKUGAN!" Hinata's eyes shot open in real life as she activated them. Pain tore through both of her eyes, but no amount of pain could overcome the seething rage and contempt she felt right now. Thus she grabbed on to her crutch and stood defiant against the agony, despite her entire body from head to toe suffering in absolute pain. She would go to any lengths to bring the Hyuga down.

"What the? How are you able to stand despite the seal being active?" The elder asked in disbelief.

Hinata glared at the elder with a murderous gaze, her eyes burning with destruction in mind.

"What is with that look? W-Who are you?" The elder could no longer even recognise Hinata. "What do you want?"

"The hour of retribution has arrived. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a seal for a seal!" Hinata said in a cold yet deadly voice. "The Hyuga has been the bane of my existence since the very beginning. This time, **I WILL BECOME THE BANE OF THE HYUGA'S EXISTENCE!**"

Thus, the Hyuga's bane was born.

* * *

><p>Last time I was quite impressed to see a lot of you pretty much guess Hinata being pushed emotionally by her clan during her childhood, but <strong>WOLF5231994,<strong> **petran** and **Senrab Nobis** really nailed some of the specifics of this chapter. I'm often amazed by your predictions, as though you've already read the next chapter.

So, what will Hinata do next? I suppose I will leave you with the title of the next chapter - "The Ascendant Byakugan".

Until next time - Yay for more cliffhangers.


End file.
